Photo(s) I Always Wanted To Shoot... #2

So the quarter has finally drawn to a close, and it was a very quick, yet drawn out 11 weeks.  I remember getting the first assignments in class, going on photo trips and then here we are taking final exams, doing final presentations, handing in final reports, and presenting final images.

Wow.

Next quarter will be on us very, very quickly, and it'll be a little more intense than this last one - at least for me.  I think I said that about this last quarter at the end of the first, didn't I?  I dunno, I think I did.  :D

For the final image of the quarter, I'll post the image that was the final in my Photo Design class.  Like the first Photo I Always Wanted To Shoot (PIAWTS), this is a concept piece that I want to carry through to other shoots in the future.  It's a recreation of a sculpture of the Greek Hero, Theseus, slaying the Centaur.  It was originally done by an Italian sculptor, Antonio Canova, in 1811 for Napoleon.

Hopefully this is just one of many to come in the future.  I love the Greek/Roman sculpture of heroic scenes and mythological characters from their old pantheon.  To be able to "bring them to life" is a desire of mine whereby I recreate them with artistic quality and aesthetic grandeur, bringing my own vision to the classic/archaic masterpiece as well as updating the vision behind the dynamics of the sculpture.

I'm looking forward to images to come, and sharing them with others!

©Carlos Paradinha Photography

Canon 7D with Photoshop manipulation of the Centaur.  ;-D

Symbolism

So - it never ceases to amaze me that life has a way of making itself known in a tangle of ways which ultimately makes it more complex than what it needs to be.

I've noticed that each time we have been poised to move from one place to anther, something dramatic looms in the distance, waiting to strike and spitting piss and vinegar.  This time it's no different.

I would like to be able to rant and rave and carry on about the woes, trials and tribulations that accompany this move, but I will not.  I dare not.  The reason is because I feel that the more that it's dwelt upon, the more life it's given.  What I will do is move forward and allow the past to recede into the background.  As it does, it will not only become smaller in my rearview, it will also become less din.

So onward - this past week's assignment for Photo Design was to come up with an image that would tell a story in and of itself through the imagery alone.  We had a very broad range of topics from which to choose.  Hopefully my topic is readily apparent.

©Carlos Paradinha Photography. 

People have prescribed many different people to the wearer of the black shoe in this image.  Undoubtedly you will too.  What remains constant is the feeling that the image conveys the sentiment and acknowledgement of a lot of folks who feel that it rings true.

The Magic of Lighting

As a photographer in training, one of the first things I was taught was that no image can be captured without light.

I was like "duh."  But the truth of the statement sank deeper and I thought about it a lot more as the weeks progressed and I was playing, shaping, caressing, toying, experimenting with light.  Oh yes, I also cursed it and its fickle ways, but I knew it was a tool that was constant as math, and sometimes just as frustrating and confusing.

I learned a bit about the absence of light as well - I believe that's something more to be explored, but the appearance of something can be just as dramatic as its non-appearance.  "negative space" as it's called.

I'm hoping that as these weeks go on that i refine my shaping of light, and constrain it some - enough- to make images that are not only alluring, appealing and interesting - but memorable as well.

Lighting Class' Product Shoot.  This was supposed to have had specific
criteria as far as background gradation and lighting on the products.

Lighting Class' Silverware Shoot. Trying to light very shiny objects without
getting 'hot spots' with the light and blowing out the edges is tough.

Lighting Class' Texture Shoot.  This was a lesson in directional lighting
to capture the textures of the objects lit.  Directional lighting is key,
and shadowing plays a huge part.  I kinda missed the mark a bit on this,
but I learned a lot in the process.

Lighting Class' Glassware Shoot.  This is mostly to get the
idea that backlit objects can be not only beautiful, but
practical in its execution.

Lighting Class' Glassware Shoot.  This is extra credit work.
We had to come up with some alternative lighting styles
to light glass in a pleasing way.

Envelopes to Push

The last week of school has been somewhat of an ease in challenge.  After I had spoken with a few of my professors about my creative stagnation and the wall I had built for myself (presumably), I decided to let go a little.  I let go of some of the baggage I've been carrying around the military had allowed me to pick up as I marched through the years in its service.

Admittedly, there's a lot more to let go, but it's a start, and I'll continue the process.  Hopefully it's exponential and starts to roll off faster as I move into a less stressful environment for myself.

The past week also was a shoot for Photo Design class dealing with the human Line, Shape and Form.  It was to be a 'nude' of some sort, where the human body was used as the subject for the assignment.  I was also to be done in black and white in order to allow for the subject, and not the color enhancements around or near it, to be the main focus of the piece created.

With that, I set out to capture an image that would be subtle, yet appealing; pleasing to the eye, yet not offensive or jarring in any way.  I hope I accomplished that with this image...

©Carlos Paradinha Photography, Seattle WA 2011

Juxtaposing

This past week was interesting, to say the least.  I'm quickly finding out that I have a  limited amount of creative juice to squeeze out of my nearly dried out rind.

No, no - it's true.  I can see other's work and go "Oooh! That's amazing!  I wish I had thought of that..!" And when I'm told I should try and mimic the images I like, I feel as though I'm just making a cheap knock-off of whatever it was that I saw.

Poop.

Yes, poop.  I feel as though I'm not part of the proper "clique" at school, so all the more creative 'cool kids' hang together and feed off of each other's energies, while I feel as though I'm fizzling out like some sort of wet sparkler.

I'm sure things will change and I will be able to draw from deep inner wellspring of creativity, but until that happens, I'm not altogether pleased with the way my thought processes are flowing.

Juxtaposition - Contrast - "Burnt Out"

Juxtaposition - Compare - "Don't Look Back"

The Challenge of Hierarchy

Another challenging week ends - with another looming on the horizon.  It's the way of college-based photography, I'm sure.  Where your professor-client demands a certain amount of creativity and honed skill within a week's time under tight conditions and other assignments equally as important to the other professor-clients.

With my Photo Design class, the idea was that we'd help each other out and assist each other with our shoots in order to maximize the time and halve the workload.

It didn't quite happen that way.

There were new "lessons learned" this week.  Each as valuable as the last ones learned the weeks before.  This week's lessons were in communication.  No matter how brilliant the plan, without communication with those who will assist in bringing that plan to fruition it's destined to have setbacks and issues.

I assisted Derek with his shoot on Saturday, along with Kieran and my son Milan.  Cassandra also was part of the shoot and I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turned out.  Now, it could have gone a lot better if communication was employed effectively.  There was, in my view, quite a lot of assumptions made.  I think that checklists and timelines would have been very useful in ensuring the shoot went better than it did.

Anyway, with that said, I, too, had issues with communications and the lack thereof.  All of the plans I had for the 'Hierarchy' assignment fell through one by one.  Every avenue I tried for the first few days of attempting to get people to help me with my imagery went south.  It's bound to happen, and that's life, but it's also frustrating and creatively stifling.

Finally, tonight, I was able to get a friend to pose for me for an hour's worth of shooting that, I believe, came out rather well.  It was a fun shoot, and I'm hoping to be able to work with Marti again in the future.

Inanimate object hierarchy - in this image "Judgement" is the most
important card and is made to be shown as such by the dramatic lighting.

People hierarchy - The Graeae are witches that share one eye between them
and were sought by Perseus in Greek myth to assist him in finding information
in order to defeat Medusa.  Here the witch with the eye is most important in the
hierarchy as depicted by her centered position, the eye held aloft,
and placed taller than the other two witches in the scene.

Photo I Always Wanted To Shoot - maybe

This week, instead of going on a photo trip, we all made the mistake of *not* traveling together and doing our own shoots.

Maybe it was the weight of the assignment on our shoulders.  Maybe it was the feeling that we all had such different visions that we wouldn't be able to help each other out.  Maybe it was a bit of pride and self-doubt and we didn't want our contemporaries to see how out-of-control or neophyte-like we really were with our tactics, cameras, ideas... Maybe it was that we didn't want our ideas compromised or wanted a little bit of "surprise" with the images we were going to produce.

Maybe it was none of these things for the others, and maybe it was all of these things for me.

I don't know - but what I do know is that Derek and I worked great together during my shoot with my model, Lela, after his shoot was cut short by a mentally unstable pool owner.  Derek and I talked about it all afterwards and decided that the most efficient and - well - *mature* thing to do was to help each other out as assistants.  We knew what we needed, we had equipment, one or the other, that was compatible with what we would need to accomplish, and we were all on the same team.  The competition, really, was with ourselves, not each other.

We learned that the lack of control with the setting, situation, people and equipment was the difference between a "good shot" and a "grab shot" (see Derek's blog).

With all that said - here are the shots that made the cut from my own attempt at a conceptual image and photographic design...

The third one made the grade as far as what will be turned in as the assignment.  Hopefully it does well in its attempt to please our professor / client.